FANZINE:
A
term coined by Russell Chauvenet, meaning an amateur magazine published
by and for science fiction fans. These first began appearing in the 1930s,
usually as club bulletins discussing and promoting science fiction.

As time went on, the range of fanzine topics widened to
cover virtually everything, and styles of writing ranged from pithy to
Serious and Constructive. Of course, fanzines are not exempt from (Theodore)
Sturgeon's Law -- that is, 90% of everything is dreck (to put it politely).

Despite that, there still have been enough good editors
and writers in fanzine fandom to make the hobby well worth my while when
I discovered the microcosm in 1957.

Having said that, I have the temerity to mention that
there are links to a number of my sterling articles on this very
page.

Samuel Johnson once said that no man but a block-head
ever wrote, except for money.

Just the kind of attitude you'd expect from an unfortunate
who often had to pay for his sexual intercourse. Tsch.

Carl Barks wrote, "No man is poor who can do what he
likes to do once in a while."

I'll go with the Duck Man.

Thanks to rising postal costs, traditional fanzines have
become much more expensive to produce and there's a growing trend to skip
paper and the post office and go online. For a look at this newer form
of fanzine, as well as other resources to things fannish, check out Bill
Burns' eFanzines.com. (To
think, the first time I saw the man he was turning the crank of a mimeograph!)

Bill, by the way, is the host for this site, and provided
me with the encouragement and motivation I needed to get this started:
it's
Bill Burns' fault!